As we indicated a few days ago, the project of Ubuntu MATE 16.10 has started and the project leader himself, Martin Wimpress has revealed some curious news of what will be Ubuntu's next big release.
Formally known as Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Yakkety Yak, the new version of the system changes its interface to the new GTK3 library. The solidity achieved by the system allows them to advance in this area and gives a certain scope to carry out some experimental concepts that we will see over the next few months. At the moment the appearance of the desktop will continue to be as careful in its details as it has been up to now.
The shift of the system towards GTK + 3 technology will also have a negative consequence, and is the assumption launch delay until next October 20, 2016.
Another change that will be with the next version of Ubuntu MATE 16.10 is use Snaps, the well-known package format developed by the folks at Canonical to offer Sandbox applications for Ubuntu Linux systems. The snapshot format has already been implemented by default in Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus, but it will be from now on when it is fully developed, since at the moment there are few applications available through this medium.
The traditional packaging format inherited from Debian (the .deb standard) will not be deprecated for the moment, but their future is not clear, if they will coexist at the same level or if Snaps it will be promoted as a fundamental medium within Ubuntu. As you know, the packages snap they provide the latest version of the software to users, as soon as they upload to the torrent. In fact, the Ubuntu MATE 16.10 desktop itself is expected to be deployed hereby. As proof of your bet on snaps, you already have available the first package created by them: Galculator, the default calculator.